Making   a    recitation   schedule 
Joseph    Bow den 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Making  a 

RECITATION 


BOWOEN 


Making  a 
Recitation  Schedule 


BY 


JOSEPH  BOWDEN,  Ph.  D. 
Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Adelphi  College 


New  York 

Joseph  Bowden 

24  Clifton  Place,  Brooklyn 

1922 


Copyright,  1922 

BY  JOSEPH    BOWDCN 


THI    CANAAN    PHINTING    CO. 
CANAAN.    CONN. 


List  of  Illustrations 

Page 

Sequence  card  6 

Electiv  blank  10 

Courses  arranged  by  teachers         -  11 

Courses  arranged  by  departments  12 

Clas  list  and  conflict  strip  14 

Clas  list  table  17 

Conflict  table,  partly  made  out      -  23 

Conflict  table  26 

Course  sequence  form  of  schedule  31 

Unary  form  of  schedule          -         -  34 


Making  a  Recitation 
Schedule 

1.  The  plan  described  in  this  little 
book  makes  the  work  of  schedule  mak- 
ing almost  mechanical  and  thus  does 
away  with  many  of  the  worries  gener- 
ally associated  with  such  work.  The 
plan  is  especially  suitable  for  a  small 
institution,  but  may  be  adapted  to  a 
large  one,  as  wil  be  explaind  later 
(§42).  For  large  institutions  however 
other  methods  may  be  more  convenient. 


5 


G 


MAKING   A 


Sequences.  2.     One   of  the   first 

things  for  the  schedule  maker  to  do  is 
to  divide  the  hours  that  may  be  used  for 
clas  work  into  separate  groups,  prefer- 
ably so  that  no  two  hours  of  a  group 
come  on  the  same  day.  I  wil  call  these 
groups  sequences.  The  sequence  card 
used  for  several  years  at  Adelphi  Col- 
lege is  given  below: 

Sequence  Card 


AOEI.PHI      C^OLUEOt 


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RECITATION  SCHEDULE  7 

The  letters  in  the  left  hand  colum 
stand  for  the  days  of  the  school  week; 
the  numbers  across  the  top  of  the  table 
indicate  the  recitation  hours.  Sequence 

I  comes  at  the  hours  indicated  by  the 
figure  1  inside  the  table,  and  so  on.    The 
vacant  hour  on  Monday  at  3  o'clock  is 
left  for  the  faculty  meeting  and  glee 
club  rehearsal,  the  hour  on  Thursday  at 

II  for  the  general  college  assembly. 

Each  course  is  to  be  assignd  to  hours 
coming  all  at  one  sequence.  If  the 
courses  ar  all  three  hour  courses,  each 
sequence  should  contain  three  hours.  If 
ther  ar  some  one  or  two  hour  courses, 
they  may  each  be  assignd  to  one  or  two 
hours  of  a  three  hour  sequence.  If  ther 
ar  some  courses  of  more  than  three 
hours,  some  of  the  sequences  may  be 
made  up  of  the  corresponding  numbers 
of  hours  or  such  a  course  may  be  as- 
signd to  more  than  one  three  hour  se- 
quence. For  the  latter  purpose  it  may 
be  convenient,  for  example,  to  call  a  six 
hour  course  two  courses  and  to  assign 
one  of  these  hypothetical  two  courses  to 


8  MAKING   A 

one  sequence  and  the  other  to  another 
sequence. 

3.  Just  as  the  hours  ar  groupt  into  a 
number  of  sequences,  so  it  would  be 
convenient  if  it  wer  possible  to  arrange 
the  courses  into  the  same  number  of 
groups,  such  that  no  two  courses  of  the 
same  group  should  hav  any  common 
member,  teacher  or  pupil. 

This  requirement  is  frequently  im- 
possible to  realize.  Then  we  try  to  real- 
ize it  as  nearly  as  possible,  that  is,  we 
try  to  arrange  the  courses  into  groups  so 
that  any  two  courses  of  the  same  group 
do  not  hav  the  same  teacher  and  hav  as 
few  pupil  members  in  common  as 
possible. 

If  the  number  of  sequences  available 
is  large  enuf,  it  is  possible  to  fulfil  the 
above  ideal  condition  exactly,  if  in  no 
other  way,  by  having  one  sequence  for 
each  course. 


RECITATION    SCHEDULE  9 

A  large  number  of  sequences  has  the 
advantage,  then,  of  removing  conflicts, 
but  the  disadvantage  of  extending  the 
hours  of  recitation  into  the  late  after- 
noon hours,  if  that  is  a  disadvantage.  A 
small  number  of  sequences  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  closing  the  hours  of  recita- 
tion early  in  the  day,  but  the  disadvan- 
tage frequently  of  causing  a  large  num- 
ber of  conflicts,  so  that  many  students 
would  hav  to  substitute  for  conflicting 
courses  some  courses  that  they  do  not 
wish  or  that  ar  not  so  wel  suited  to  the 
ends  they  hav  in  view. 


Teachers'  4.  The  next  thing,  pos- 
Offers.  sibly  the  first,  for  the  pro- 
gram maker  to  do  is  to  get  from  each 
teacher  a  list  of  the  courses  he  offers  for 
the  next  semester  and  a  statement  of 
any  preferences  he  may  hav  for  the 
hours  of  his  courses.  For  this  purpose 
the  following  form  may  be  used: 


10 


MAKING   A 

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COMMITTEE  ON  SCHEDULE 


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The  H,  L,  M  in  this  form  stand  res- 
pectivly  for  History  and  Filosofy,  Lan- 
guages and  Literatures,  Mathematics 
and  Siences,  the  three  divisions  into 
which  the  courses  offerd  in  Adelphi  Col- 
lege wer  groupt,  one  of  which  divisions 
was  chosen  by  each  student  as  a  major, 
another  as  an  intermediate,  and  a  third 
as  a  minor. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE 


11 


5.  When  these  blanks  ar  returnd  to 
the  offis,  they  should  be  arranged  alfa- 
betically  according  to  the  names  of  the 
teachers.    In  the  upper  left  hand  corner 
should  be  placed  an  abbreviation  of  the 
teacher's  name,  say  the  first  one,  two, 
or  three  letters  of  his  last  name,  or  some 
other  symbol  to  represent  the  teacher. 

6.  From  these  blanks  a  list     of    all 
courses  offerd  should  be  made  out  in  two 
torms,   first  arranged   alfabetically  ac- 
cording to  the  names  of  the     teachers 
and  second  according  to  the  names  of 
departments  or  subjects,  either  in  one 
alfabetical  list  or  in  as  many  as  ther  ar 
divisions.     The  following  may  be  used: 

Courses  Arranged  lst   2^d 

|^y  semester 

Teachers         1^2  -192 


f 


12 


MAKING   A 


Courses  Arranged  lst   2nd 

[^y  semester 

Departments       1^2  -192 


IV  a.  one  «f 


o-f  Courses 


Posting  7.  A  list  of  all  courses 

Courses.  offerd  should  then  be 
Students'  posted,  or  printed  and  dis- 

Electivs.  tributed  among  the  stu- 
dents, for  which  purpose  either  of  the 
latter  forms,  or  a  combination  of  them, 
may  be  used.  From  this  list  the  stu- 
dents should  make  their  selections,  for 
reporting  which  the  form  used  for  the 
teachers'  offers  (§4)  may  be  used. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  13 

8.  When  the  students'  electiv  blanks 
hav  been  handed  in,  they  should  be 
numberd,  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner, 
using  say  the  numbers  1-50  for  the 
seniors,  51-100  for  the  juniors,  101-200 
for  the  sofomores,  201-300  for  the  fresh- 
men. If  the  members  of  the  freshman 
clas  ar  not  individually  known,  we  may 
assign  the  number  201  to  the  whole 
freshman  clas,  or  201  and  several  fol- 
lowing numbers  to  represent  several 
types  of  freshmen. 

Clas  9.     After  evident     errors 

Lists.       in  these  blanks     hav     been 

corrected  by  the  schedule     committee, 

the  clas  lists  should  be  made  from  them. 

For  this  purpose  the  following  form  may 

be  used: 


11 


MAKING    A 


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StuJtHts       Conflicts 

RECITATION  SCHEDULE  15 

In  this  form  the  small  numbers  in  the 
left  hand  colum  ar  the  students'  serial 
numbers.  For  the  sake  of  illustration  I 
hav  imagind  a  very  small  college  with 
sixteen  students.  The  large  numbers  at 
the  right  stand  for  eight  courses  which 
ar  supposed  to  be  offerd  in  our  imagin- 
ary college.  The  use  of  these  numbers 
wil  be  explaind  later  (§18).  The  left 
hand  margin  when  fild  out  as  explaind 
below  (§§11,  12)  wil  be  a  clas  list;  the 
right  hand  margin  when  properly  fild 
out  (§§21-26)  wil  be  the  conflict  strip  of 
the  corresponding  clas. 

10.  Either     the     students'      names 
should  be  printed  on  the  form  after  their 
serial   numbers  or  the     numbers     and 
names  should  be  printed  on  long  strips 
of  paper,  using  the  same  sized  type  and 
the  same  spacing  as  in  the  form. 

11.  In  making  the  clas  lists  one  of 
these  clas  list  blanks  is  used  for  each 
clas.    The  name  of  the  course  is  ritten  at 
the  top  of  each  blank  as  indicated.    The 
blanks  ar  arranged  alfabetically  accord- 
ing to  the  names  of  the  classes  and  ar 


16  MAKING   A 

placed  one  on  top  of  the  other,  the 
blank  belonging  to  the  first  clas  at  the 
bottom,  so  that  only  the  left  hand  mar- 
gins sho,  except  for  the  top  one,  which 
of  course  wil  be  entirely  visible,  and  for 
the  bottom  one,  of  which  the  left  hand 
colum  of  numbers  should  also  be  visible. 

The  blanks  wil  be  arranged  more  ac- 
curately in  place  if  they  ar  laid  on  a 
drawing  board  upon  which  a  line  has 
previusly  been  drawn  to  correspond  to 
one  of  the  hevy  black  lines  near  the  top 
of  the  clas  list  blank.  As  a  blank  is  laid 
down,  the  hevy  line  on  the  strip  should 
be  mad«  to  match  the  line  on  the  board 
and  the  blank  should  then  be  secured  in 
place  by  two  thum  tacks,  one  at  the  top 
and  one  at  the  bottom. 

12.  To  make  the  clas  lists  a  ruler  is 
laid  across  the  blanks  from  the  middle 
of  the  first  figure  1  to  the  middle  of  the 
second,  the  electivs  of  student  number  1 
ar  red  from  his  electiv  blank,  and  a 
broken  line  is  drawn  in  pencil  as  indi- 
cated in  the  following  diagram,  which 
supposes  that  student  1  elects  courses 
Bi.  2,  Eng.  2,  Hist.  2,  and  Mus.  2 ;  and  so 
on  for  each  student. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE 


17 


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Studfitts      Conflicts 

In  this  table  each  horizontal  line  in- 
dicates the  corresponding  student's 
choice  of  courses  and  each  colum  repre- 
sents the  clas  list  of  the  corresponding 
course. 


18  MAKING    A 

13.  The  clas  lists  should  now  be 
copied  by  placing  a  clas  list  blank  be- 
side each  of  these  clas  lists  in  turn  and 
checking  the  corresponding  numbers. 


14.  The  copies  should  be  given  to 
the  proper  teachers  for  revision.  When 
the  revised  lists  ar  returnd,  the  originals 
should  be  corrected  and  the  lines  re- 
drawn in  ink,  using  preferably  a  ruling- 
pen  and  making  broad  lines. 


Sections.  15.  It  may  now  be  de- 
cided which  courses  should  not  be  given 
and  which  classes  divided  into  sections. 
The  actual  division  into  sections  may  be 
made  now,  according  to  any  plan,  or  it 
may  be  left  to  be  determind  by  the  stu- 
dents' cards,  each  student  being  put  into 
that  section  which  suits  his  card  best. 
The  latter  plan  wil  frequently  be  found 
more  convenient. 


The  number  of     laboratory     sections 
may  also  be  decided  upon. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  19 

Numbering  16.  If  the  division  into 
Classes.  recitation  and  laboratory 
sections  is  made  now,  ther  should  be 
assignd  to  each  recitation  section  and  to 
each  laboratory  section  a  clas  list  and 
conflict  strip.  The  classes  and  sections 
should  also  be  numberd  in  series.  For 
example,  if  Fysics  1  has  two  recitation 
sections  and  two  laboratory  sections, 
these  sections  may  be  numberd  71,  72, 
73,  74. 

If  the  division  into  sections  is  left  to 
be  made  later,  one  serial  number  should 
be  assignd  to  each  clas,  but  no  extra 
numbers  for  the  sections. 

17.  We  may  also  assign  numbers  to 
courses  which  for  varius  reasons,  as 
smallness  of  classes,  it  is  believd  wil  not 
be  given.  Sometimes  it  is  finally  de- 
cided to  giv  such  courses.  In  such  case, 
if  a  number  had  not  been  assignd,  we 
might  be  obliged  to  use  decimal  frac- 
tions, or  letters,  for  interpolation,  in 
order  to  hav  the  courses  numberd  in  the 
proper  order. 


20  MAKING  A 

18.  The  assignd  numbers  should  be 
enterd,  in  red  ink,  above  the  correspon- 
ding numbers  in  the  lists  of  courses  men- 
tiond  in  §6.     They  should  also  be  en- 
terd, in  red  ink,  in  three  places  on  each 
clas  list  and  conflict  strip,  in  the  two 
places  indicated  near  the  heds  of  the 
two  colums  on  the  left  and  right  and 
also  in  the  square  to  the  right  of  the 
corresponding  black  number  at  the  right. 

19.  The  strips  belonging  to  courses 
which  it  is  believd  wil  not  be  given  may 
now  be  laid  aside,  to  be  used  later,  if  it 
is  decided  to  giv  these  courses. 

Conflicts.  20.  We  ar  now  redy  to 
investigate  conflicts.  Two  classes  ar 
said  to  conflict  if  they  hav  either  the 
same  teacher  or  one  or  more  pupils  in 
common.  Two  such  classes  cannot  be 
placed  at  the  same  sequence  unless,  in 
case  the  teacher  causes  the  conflict,  an- 
other teacher  is  assignd  to  one  of  the 
classes,  or,  in  case  the  conflict  is  due  to 
common  pupils,  these  pupils  choose  be- 
tween the  two  courses. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  21 

21.  Arrange  the  clas  lists  again  as 
in  the  table  of  §12.  Take  the  first  clas 
list  from  the  bottom  of  the  pile  and  lay 
it  alongside  of  each  other  clas  list  in 
turn.  It  is  then  easily  seen  whether  clas 
1  and  any  other  clas,  say  clas  2,  hav  any 
pupils  in  common,  and,  if  so,  how  many, 
and  which  ones. 

If  they  hav  none,  rite  an  "0"  with 
ink  in  the  blank  conflict  strip  of  the  first 
clas  in  the  square  opposit  2. 

If  they  hav  more  common  members 
than  the  greatest  number  of  conflicts 
that  would  be  allowd,  say  5,  rite  a  check 
mark  "  V"  with  ink  in  the  square. 

If  they  hav  less  than  5  common  mem- 
bers, we  may  follow  either  one  of  two 
plans.  We  may  rite  in  the  square  with 
pencil  the  number  of  common  members, 
or  we  may  rite  with  ink  the  ordinal  num- 
bers of  the  common  members.  The  lat- 
ter plan  takes  more  time,  but  wil  fre- 
quently save  time  in  the  later  work, 
since  we  frequently  want  to  kno  not  only 
how  many  common  members  two  classes 
hav,  but  who  these  conflicting  members 
ar. 


22  MAKING   A 

In  this  way  all  the  squares  of  the 
blank  conflict  strip  of  clas  1  wil  be  fiki, 
starting  with  the  square  opposit  2. 

In  the  same  way  all  the  squares  of  the 
second  blank  conflict  strip,  starting  with 
the  square  opposit  3,  may  be  fild.  And 
so  on. 

22.  Of  course,  if  two  classes  hav  the 
same  members,  their  conflicts  with  the 
other  classes  wil  be  the  same.    It  wil  not 
therfor  be  necessary  to  compare  them 
both  with  the  other  classes.  The  squares 
of  the  second's  blank  conflict  strip  may 
be  fild  by  copying  from  the  first's  strip. 

23.  As  the  blanks  ar  fild  out,     lay 
them  in  a  pile  with  the  first  at  the  top 
and  the  conflict  strips  showing,  as  indi- 
cated on  the  next  page: 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE 


23 


Conflict  Table 

Partly  made  out 


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24  MAKING   A 

24.  We  may  now  very  easily  enter 
in  this  table  the  conflicts  due  to  teachers. 
If  teacher  A  has  courses  1,  2,  3,  4,  an 
"A"  should  be  enterd  in  squares  2,  3,  4 
on  blank  1,  in  squares  3,  4  on  blank  2. 
and  square  4  on  blank  3.    Similarly  for 
the  other  teachers. 

25.  The  blanks  now     constitute     as 
laid  together  half  of  the  conflict  table. 
Since  the  conflicts  of  one     clas     with  a 
second  ar  the  same  as  those  of  the  sec- 
ond with  the  first,  this  table  should  be 
symmetrical  about  the  principal  diagon- 
al, the  line  of  red  figures  running  from 
the  upper  left  hand  corner  to  the  lower 
right  hand  corner. 

The  blank  squares  of  the  first  ro  may 
therfor  be  fild  by  turning  the  first 
conflict  strip  around  thru  a  right  angle 
and  laying  its  squares  alongside  of  the 
first  ro  of  squares.  The  blank  squares 
of  the  second  ro  may  similarly  be  fild 
by  using  the  second  conflict  strip,  and 
so  on. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  25 

26.  The  number  of  different  courses 
that  each  course  conflicts  with  should 
now  be  counted  up   and  enterd  in  the 
square  at  the  bottom  of  the  correspond- 
ing conflict  strip.     These  numbers  may 
be  cald  the  conflict  coefficients.  A  course 
whose  conflict  coefficient  is  large  is  in 
general   harder  to  arrange  for  on  the 
schedule  than  one  whose  coefficient  is 
small.     The  courses  with  largest  coeffi- 
cients should  therfor  be   provided   for 
first. 

27.  If  the  conflict     strips     ar     now 
again  arranged  as  in  §23,  altho  this  is 
not  necessary  for  our  purpose,  they  wil 
form  the  completed  conflict  table,  which 
wil  look  as  follows: 


26 


MAKING   A 

Conflict  Table 


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RECITATION  SCHEDULE  27 

28.  It  may  be  wise  now  to  make  a 
vertical  list  of  the  courses  on  one  sheet 
of  paper,  arranging  the  courses  accord- 
ing to  the  magnitude  of  their  conflict 
coefficients. 

Assigning          29.     The  object  now  is 

Courses       to  arrange  the  courses  in 

to  groups,   such      that     the 

Sequences,      courses  of  each  group  do 

not  conflict  with  each  other,  or  conflict 

as  little  as  possible,  and  to  assign  these 

groups  to  separate  sequences.     All   of 

our  previus  work  has  been  done  in  order 

to  make  this  work  as  easy  as  possible. 

Probably  the  best  plan  is  to  cut  the 
conflict  strips  from  the  completed  clas 
list  and  conflict  strips.  Place  the  clas 
lists  aside. 

If  the  division  into  sections  has  been 
left  to  be  determind  by  the  students' 
cards  (§15),  the  conflict  strip  belonging 
to  a  clas  which  is  to  hav  sections  should 
now  be  assignd  to  recitation  section  1 
and  another  conflict  strip  should  be 
made  out  for  each  other  recitation  sec- 
tion and  laboratory  section  by  copying 
from  this  strip. 


28  MAKING  A 

The  conflict  strips  should  be  placed 
side  by  side  on  a  table,  arranged  ac- 
cording to  the  magnitude  of  their  con- 
flict coefficients. 

Now  take  as  many  blank  clas  list  and 
conflict  strips  as  ther  ar  sequences  and 
from  each  of  these  cut  out  the  strip  con- 
taining the  list  of  course  numbers. 
Number  these  strips  to  correspond  to 
the  sequences,  say  from  1  to  12.  We  wil 
call  these  strips,  so  numberd,  the 
sequence  gides.  Spred  the  sequence 
gides  out  on  a  table,  leaving  spaces  be- 
tween .to  represent  the  sequences. 

30.  We  may  next     assign     certain 
courses  or  sections  arbitrarily  to  the  se- 
quences, not  more  than  one    to     each, 
these  courses  or  sections     being     ones 
which  for  varius  reasons  it  seems  should 
be  set  at  definit  places  on  the  program. 
The  corresponding  conflict  strips  should 
be  placed  beside  the  proper  sequence 
gides. 

31.  Now  take  up  the  conflict  strip 
belonging  to  that  one  of  the  unassignd 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  29 

courses  or  sections  whose  conflict  coeffi- 
cient is  greatest  or  one  of  the  greatest. 
Say  this  is  course  9.  By  running  the  eye 
along  the  9th  ro  of  squares  on  the  strips 
belonging  to  the  courses  alredy  assignd 
it  can  generally  be  easily  seen  at  which 
sequence  course  9  should  be  placed  to 
cause  the  least  number  of  conflicts. 
Place  this  conflict  strip  in  the  space 
representing  this  sequence. 

If  ther  ar  several  equally  available 
sequences,  it  is  usually  best  to  put  the 
course  at  the  sequence  coming  earliest 
in  the  day.  Or  this  course  can  be  left 
to  be  assignd  after  the  course  having 
the  next  highest  conflict  coefficient. 

We  may  continue  in  the  same  way 
until  all  the  courses  and  sections  hav 
been  assignd  to  sequences,  the  conflict 
strips  for  each  sequence  being  arranged 
in  numerical  order. 

32.  If  it  happens  that  about  the 
same  number  of  conflicts  wil  be  caused 
by  assigning  a  course  to  either  of  two 
different  sequences,  it  may  be  advisable 
to  consider  who  ar  the  students  that 


30  MAKING   A 

cause  the  conflicts.  One  student  may 
find  it  easy  to  change  his  electivs,  an- 
other may  find  it  hard. 

If  the  conflict  table  was  made  accord- 
ing to  the  first  plan  mentiond  in  §21,  it 
wil  now  be  advisable  to  reconstruct  a 
part  of  it  according  to  the  second  plan. 
Suppose  that  courses  2,  4,  5,  and  7  ar 
alredy  assignd  to  a  certain  sequence 
and  we  wish  to  find  what  conflicts  wil  be 
caused  by  putting  course  6  at  this 
sequence.  We  compare  clas  list  6  again 
with  clas  lists  2,  4,  5,  and  7  and  rite  with 
ink  the  ordinal  numbers  of  the  students 
causing  the  conflicts  in  the  correspond- 
ing squares  of  the  conflict  strips  6,  2,  4, 
5,  7  in  place  of  the  numbers  originally 
put  in  these  squares. 

33.  When  a  clas  is  assignd  to  a  se- 
quence, corresponding  entries  should  be 
made,  in  pencil,  in  the  course  sequence 
form  of  schedule,  the  sequence  room 
schedule,  and  on  the  teacher's  hour  time 
card. 

The  form  for  the  last  of  these  may  be 
the  same  as  that  given  for  tho  sequence 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE 


31 


card  in  §2.  A  form  for  the  first  is  given 
below.  In  the  interior  squares  should 
be  placed  the  numbers  of  the  courses 
coming  at  the  varius  sequences. 


Course  Sequence   lst 

TOrm  Of  semester 

Schedule          1^2  -192 


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32  MAKING   A 

34.  The  sequence     room     schedule 
differs  from  the  course  sequence  form  of 
schedule  in     having     inserted     in     the 
squares  of  the  left  hand     margin     the 
numbers  of  the  rooms  insted     of     the 
names  of  departments.     In  the  interior 
squares  should  be  placed  the  names  of 
the  teachers  (or  classes)  occupying  the 
varius  rooms  at  the  varius  sequences. 

35.  After  all  courses  hav  been  as- 
signd  to  places  it     wil     frequently     be 
found  that  certain  courses     hav     more 
conflicts  than   when  first     assignd     to 
places.     The  conflicts  hav  been  heaping 
up  as  the  time  table  grew.     It  wil  be 
wise  to  consider  each  course  over  again, 
to  see  if,  by  changing  its     assignment, 
the  number  of  conflicts  cannot  be  re- 
duced.      Frequently,  when  one  course 
has  its  assignment  changed,  an  opening 
is  made  by  which  we  may  improve  the 
assignment  of  another     course.        The 
opening,  if  any,  is  of  course  in  the  se- 
quence from  which  the  first  course  has 
been  removed.       While  making     these 
changes,  also,  the  teachers'  cards  should 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  33 

be  studied,  to  see  if  they  cannot  be  im- 
proved. 

36.  It  wil  be  wise  now  to  enter  the 
electivs  chosen  by  the  students  in  the 
sequence  strips  at  the  bottoms  of  their 
electiv  blanks.  If  these  electiv  blanks 
ar  arranged  one  above  another  leaving 
the  sequence  strips  exposed,  it  wil  some- 
times be  evident  that  one  clas,  senior, 
junior,  sofomore,  or  freshman,  has  been 
favord  more  than  the  others  with  early 
hours.  Sometimes  a  change  can  be 
made  so  as  to  remove  the  inequality. 

Sequence  37.        These     sequence 

Time  time  cards  of  the  students 

Cards.  may  also  be  used  in  inves- 
tigating what  course  a  student  had  bet- 
ter be  advised  to  take  in  place  of  one  of 
two  conflicting  courses. 

38.  They  may  also  be  used,  with  the 
sequence  time  card  of  the  teacher,  to 
determin  the  best  place  for  some  new 
course  which  it  may  hav  been  decided 
to  giv. 


34 


MAKING    A 


Forms  39.  The  time  table  is 

of  now  complete  and  exists 

Schedule  in  several  forms.  It  may 
also  be  put  into  several  other  forms  con- 
venient for  use,  one  of  which  follows: 


Unary  Torm 
of  Schedule 


.  semester 
192  -192 


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t^m 

Course 

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ntr 

Rwi 

40.  From  the  schedule  in  the  above 
form  it  may  be  wise  to    pick     out    the 
courses  open  to  freshmen  and  with  these 
make  a  freshman  schedule  in  the  same 
form. 

41.  Sometimes  tables  showing  what 
courses  come  at  the  varius  hours  of  the 
week  and  what  teachers     occupy     the 
varius  rooms  at  the  varius  hours  of  the 
week  ar  useful.    These  of  course  can  be 
compiled  from  the  other  tables. 


RECITATION  SCHEDULE  35 

Large  42.  The  plan  describ- 

Institutions.  ed  in  this  book  would  be 
unwieldy  for  a  large  institution.  But 
it  might  be  applied  by  artificially  divid- 
ing the  large  institution  into  several 
small  ones. 

The  time  table  might  be  made  up  first 
for  a  certain  group  of  students,  say 
those  whose  chief  work  is  in  sience. 
Then  another  group  of  students  would 
be  considerd,  the  courses  that  they  hav 
in  common  with  the  first  group  being 
considerd  as  fixt  in  place. 

The  first  group  to  be  considerd  might 
be  the  senior  clas,  the  second  the  junior 
clas,  etc. 

43.  The  work  may  also  sometimes 
be  simplified  by  considering  insted  of 
individual  students  groups  of  students 
whose  work  is  the  same.  A  single  num- 
ber could  represent  such  a  group. 

Examination  44.  It  wil  be  evident 
Schedule,  that  the  same  method 
may  be  applied  to  making  an  examina- 
tion schedule,  or  the  examination  sche- 
dule can  be  made  up  from  the  recitation 
schedule. 


INDEX  Article 

Adjusting  schedule  -       31 

Assigning   courses    to    sequences  29-32 

Clas  list  and  conflict  strip  9 

Clas  lists  9,   11,   12 

Clas  list  table  —       12 

Conflict  coefficients  26 

Conflicts  -       20 

Conflict  strips  -       9,  21-27 

Conflict  table  27 

Copying  clas  lists  13 

Correcting  errors  in  electiv  blanks  9 

Course  sequence  form  of  schedule  33 

Courses  arranged  by  departments         -         -     6 
"  "  "     teachers  -         6 

"  to  be  divided  into  sections         -       15 

"  "     "     omitted  16 

Electiv  blanks  - 

Examination    schedule  44 

Freshman  " 

Hour  time  cards 
Laboratory  sections 

Method  applied  to  large  institution  42 

Numbering  classes  16 

"  students'  electiv  blanks 

Posting  list  of  courses  7 

Revising  clas  lists  14 

Sequences 
Sequence   gides 

"  room  schedule 

"  strips 

"  time  cards 

Students'    electivs 
Teachers'    offers 
Unary  form  of  schedule  39 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last 


date  stamped  bel 


*\ 


-291973 


27 


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Manufactured  by 
\  6AYLORD  BROS,  li 
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